After mount the gimbal , landing gear, and GoPro to my DJI F450 frame it barely had enough power to lift the quad off the ground. Naturally, I wanted to upgrade to a setup that supports a larger lifting capacity. There are so many variations to choose from, for example. Do I want to change to a larger motor and use a lower KV motor but that would mean I would need to use a 4s lipo setup? Or should a get a high KV motor to keep the 3s lipo I am using now. If I go with a larger motor, I could stay with a 4 motor frame and hopefully maintain a similar flight time I have now. But will I get a better flight time with six smaller motor at higher KV? So you get the picture.... there is no right perfect answer because it really depends on what you want to do with the multi rotor copter and how much weight you are carrying.
I did get a set of DJI aluminum extension arms so I could use a larger prop to get more thrust, but I read in a few message forums that it is not a good idea. So I never tested it out. Instead, I bought a new DJI F550 frame. The frame share the same exact arms as the F450, and the only difference is the center plates which support 6 arms. What 550 means is that the distance from one center point of the motor to the opposites side of the other motor is 550mm across.
The frames are relatively cheap, this DJI F550 was only $48 shipped. The hardest part is figuring out how to organizing all the electronics. Other than getting 2 more ESC and motors I was able to move all the electronics from the F450 frame to this new one.
This is the box that the F550 frame comes in.
Inside the box are the 6 arms hardware, center plate, velcro, and double sided tape.
The first thing is to solder the ESC power cable, BEC and light power cables to the integrated circuit board. I learned from my first multi rotor copter that I should plan ahead and solder on 2 connectors for future possible use . Instead of need to taking it part to solder new wires to the board you can just plug it in. It is like having an outlet in the wall read for you to use.
Here is how the frame looks with all the electronics mounted.
F550 on the left and F450 on the right. Keep in mind the arms on both frames are identical and interchangeable
|
